Dėl kompiuterijos terminų „laikmena“, „kaupiklis“, „skaitlys“, „tvarkyklė“ ir „kaupa“ vartojimo

Gintarė ŽALKAUSKAITĖ, Valerijonas ŽALKAUSKAS Vilnius University ON THE USE OF THE COMPUTER SCIENCE TERMS LAIKMENA, KAUPIKLIS, SKAITLYS, TVARKYKLĖ AND KAUPA VARTOJIMO Computer science terminology is constantly changing because technology in this field is developing rapidly. American computer terminology reflects concepts used differently by various companies and is characterized by variation and polysemy. An example of polysemy is the term drive 1. drive, 2. spindle, 3. reader, 4. storage medium. This term, like its polysemous Russian equivalent накопитель, reflects the development of computer devices and, at the same time, the changing names for them. Over the past 10 years, computer equipment has changed considerably, and the concepts and terms used have changed along with it. For example, the previously used term catalogue (English directory, French répertoire, Russian каталог) is now being replaced by folder (English folder, French dossier, Russian папка). The French continually revise their terminology, so older dictionaries [1] give one set of French equivalents for English terms, while the French version of Windows 95 or the dictionary of official informatics terminology [2] gives another. Lithuanian computer terminology consists of two parts. The first part was formed on the basis of Russian terminology for large computers. The second part is now being developed on the basis of English terms for personal-computer windowing environments. Some terms from the first part have become obsolete. Sometimes terms from the old and new parts contradict one another, or the same word denotes different concepts. For example, the old storage device and the new storage medium. The term storage medium has already taken root among computer specialists. We asked computer specialists how they understood the term storage medium. Most replied that a storage medium is a floppy disk, a disk, or magnetic tape. It would seem, then, that storage medium is understood as a collective term for various information-storage devices. However, in dictionary [3], laikmena is defined as English medium, carrier, Russian носитель. In dictionary [4], laikmena is defined as English medium, media, Russian носитель, and is defined as “a material medium for recording and storing data.” The medium itself is defined as an environment. It is difficult to understand what this data-recording medium or data-recording environment is. 65 defined as an environment. It is difficult to understand what this data-recording medium or data-recording environment is. Another term in dictionary [3] is storage device English accumulator, counter-type adder, storage unit, drive, Russian аккумулятор, сумматор. In dictionary [4], storage device is English drive, storage, accumulator, memory unit, Russian накопитель, while dictionary [5] gives storage device as English accumulator, drive, pool, storage. Clearly, the term storage device is translated from the Russian накопитель. However, it is entirely unclear why various English meanings are assigned to this term: 1. an information-storage device (storage, memory unit), 2. an accumulator (accumulator), 3. a counter-type adder (counter-type adder). In [4], storage device is defined as “a collective term for devices used to record and store data,” that is, a data-storage device. There, too, a floppy-disk drive is defined as “a storage device whose data medium is a removable floppy disk.” Thus, the floppy disk (“diskette”) is already the storage medium. But it would hardly be appropriate to call a floppy disk a medium. Dictionary [5] also gives floppy-disk drive (English diskette drive, floppy drive). It is unclear what is storing what here, and how storage medium differs from storage device. Apparently, these are terms with the same meaning. But the older term “storage device” displaces storage medium, so the latter is assigned rather unclear equivalents in other languages. Neither English nor French collective terms for disks, diskettes, and tapes emphasize storage. The term “storage device” should no longer be used to name information-storage devices. The term storage medium, with the following equivalents in other languages, is more suitable: • storage medium English storage unit, storage, drive, French mémoire de stockage, support de données, Russian накопитель, носитель данных. Here are some specific types of storage media: • tape storage medium English tape drive, tape storage, French mémoire à bande magnétique, Russian накопитель на магнитной ленте; • diskette storage medium English disk drive, diskette drive, French mémoire à disquettes, Russian накопитель на дискетах; • disk storage medium English disk drive, disk unit, French mémoire à disques, Russian накопитель на дисках. Information is recorded on storage media. The phrase “we’ll record a song onto a record or magnetic tape” is already familiar. Therefore, for the term recording English recording, saving, French enregistrement, écriture, Russian запись, 66 сохранение, it seems, need no longer be discussed. Especially since Lithuanian versions of operating systems OS/2 Warp [6] and IBM Words, and other computer programs adapted for Lithuania, have the Lithuanian command įrašyti (write) in place of the English command save. However, [5] a. save – to preserve. The term preservation, translated from the Russian сохранение, for naming the recording of information should be considered obsolete. Where information is actually kept, a different term is used: keeping, security, protection a. protection, safeguarding, p. protection, sauvegarde, r. защита, охрана. Files recorded on media are kept in cabinets and drawers. Here we have a clear term storage a. storage, p. stockage, r. хранение. The process opposite to writing is reading a. reading, p. lecture, r. считывание, отсчёт. In computers, unlike tape recorders, information is first read, loaded into working memory, and only then played back, displayed, or processed. There is no doubt about the term reading. Media-reading devices are somewhat more problematic. [4,6] a disk-reading device is called diskasūkis. This term is not a very accurate translation of the Russian дисковод. The Russian word, like its English equivalent drive, emphasizes driving, propelling, controlling, whereas the Lithuanian diskasukis emphasizes rotation. But rotation is not the main process here. Furthermore, diskasukis is defined as a storage device. Thus, a storage device has now become a reading device rather than a storage one. [4] a floppy-disk reading device is called disketsukis, and a tape-reading device juostatraukis. These terms do not form a system, since a single collective name for them is needed. The French use the word lecteur for all reading and recording devices. It corresponds well to the Lithuanian skaitys. Using skaityti, we obtain a system of terms: • reads a. reader, drive, p, lecteur, r. reader, disk drive; • disko skaitys a. hard disk drive, HDD, p. lecteur de disque dur, r. дисковод, считывающее устройство диска; • floppy-disk reader a. floppy disk drive, FDD, p. lecteur de disquettes, r. дисковод, считывающее устройство дискет; • tape reader a. tape drive, tape deck, tape reader, lecteur de bande, r. считывающее устройство ленты; • compact-disc reader a. compact disk ROM drive, p. lecteur 67 CD-ROM disk, Russian: optical disc reading device; • optinis skaitylys English: optical reader, French: lecteur optique, Russian: оптическое считывающее устройство. We find the latter type of reader, which reads product barcodes, in shops. It is a scanning reader—it has no spinning mechanism. Disc and floppy-disk readers have not only a read head, but also a spinning mechanism—a spindle, disk drive; English: disk drive, French: entraînement de disque, Russian: дисковод. We note that the English equivalent of the main word in many of the terms discussed here is drive. Another related word is also worth discussing—driver, device driver, meaning software that controls hardware devices such as readers and printers. Another English term, manager, has a similar meaning. The Lithuanian equivalent tvarkyklė has already become established in usage for driver. The French translate driver and manager with a single word, gestionnaire, i.e. controller. Although there is a difference between driver and manager, for now it is difficult to distinguish tvarkyklė from valdyklė. Therefore, tvarkyklė could be used in a broader sense, for example: • tvarkyklė English: driver, manager, French: gestionnaire, Russian: driver program, control program; • printer driver English: printer driver, French: gestionnaire d’imprimante, Russian: printer driver; • print manager English: print manager, French: gestionnaire d’impression, Russian: program that manages printing; • device driver English: device driver, French: gestionnaire de périphérique, Russian: device driver; • file manager English: file manager, French: gestionnaire de fichiers, Russian: file dispatcher; • program manager English: program manager, French: gestionnaire de programmes, Russian: program dispatcher; • window manager English: windows manager, French: gestionnaire de fenêtres, Russian: window dispatcher; • interrupt handler English: interrupt handler, French: gestionnaire de interruption, Russian: interrupt handler. Another term that should be discussed is bufferization [3,4]. Neither English nor French has the word bufferisation. Therefore, the word 68 Bufferization is of unclear origin. In computing, English buffer, French tampon, mémoire tampon refers to a part of memory in which information is temporarily stored. This storage makes it possible to synchronize the operation of two devices or programs with different speeds [2]. Thus, English buffering and French tamponnage mean temporary storage of information. The English term spooling – storage, accumulation has a very similar meaning in computing [5]. Files are stored in a spooler for later printing. The term storage is well suited to naming both processes, for example: • storage, to accumulate English spooling, buffering, French spoulage, tamponnage, Russian подкачка, буфферирование, буфферизация. We will give a few specific terms: • remote storage English remote spooling, French tamponnage à distance, Russian дистанционное буфферирование; • double storage English double buffering, French tamponnage double, Russian двойное буфферирование; • dynamic storage English dynamic buffering, French tamponnage dynamique, Russian динамическая подкачка, динамическая буфферизация; • spooled printing English spooled print, French impression à tamponnage, Russian печать с буфферизацией. Alongside these terms, there should also be a buffer—a part of memory for storing intermediate results: • buffer English spooler, buffer, French spoule, tampon, Russian накопитель, буфер; • video buffer English video buffer, French tampon d’image, Russian буфер изображения, видеопамять; • keyboard input buffer English type head buffer, French tampon de clavier, Russian буфер клавиатуры; • printer buffer English printing spooler, French tampon d’impression, Russian буферное ЗУ печатающего устройства. Literatūra 1. Б а р к о в с к и й А. Б., З а й ч и к Б. И., Б о р о в и к о в а Л. И. Словарь по программированию. Москва: Русский язык, 1991. 2. Lexique informatique officieux de la Commission ministérielle de terminologie informatique. http://www-rocq.inria.fr/~deschamp/www/CMTI/LAF.html. 69 3. Valatkaitė R., Kudirka Z. Informatika. V.: Lietuvos informacijos institutas, 1998. 4. Paulauskas K. V., Jasinevičius R. Aiškinamasis kompiuterijos žodynas. K.: Technologija, 1995. 5. Aiškinamasis anglų-lietuvių kalbų kompiuterijos žodynas. Red A. Kirejevas, K.: Smaltija, 1997. 6. OS/2 vartotojo vadovas. V.: UAB „Baltic Amadeus“, 1997. 70